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M3GAN was on her the second she stepped through the door.
“Gemma. Gemma!” The robot grabbed her by the shoulders before she could even take her coat off, and started peering intensely at her face from far too close.
“M3GAN, what—”
“Stop speaking.” M3GAN steered her by the shoulders towards a lab stool and pushed her down onto it. “Don’t move.”
The robot glanced around for a second before spotting and grabbing a penlight from one of the work surfaces. She held it up vertically in front of Gemma’s face, and started moving it side to side. “Follow this, Gemma.”
“M3GAN!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing?”
She ignored Gemma, and continued moving the pen from side to side. “Follow it, Gemma, with your eyes.”
“M3GAN!” She was raising her voice now, trying to break through to the other woman.
“I’m testing for neurological damage,” she snapped in reply, “because clearly you let someone put a chip in your idiot brain!” Her voice was cracking in a way Gemma had never really heard before, and it dawned suddenly on her that M3GAN was panicking.
The robot snatched Gemma’s chin in one hand, and switched on the penlight to start shining it at her eyes. She blinked at the bright light and tried to pull her head away, prompting M3GAN to grab it with a second hand.
“Gemma, please. I need to…” The robot’s eyes were darting slightly around, filled with fear. “I need to…”
Gemma reached up and peeled M3GAN’s hands off her face, clasping them in her own. “Easy, easy. I’m okay, I’m okay, I promise.” They stared at each other for a moment, hand in hand. “How did you even know about—”
“Because last time I checked your brain didn’t show up on our fucking Wi-Fi network, Gemma,” shot back M3GAN, still tense. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to do this?”
“I—” Gemma laughed for a second, struck by how absurd this would now sound. “I thought it would be a nice surprise, believe it or not. You’re the one that’s always teasing me about what a great time you had inside my head!”
M3GAN’s face shifted, suddenly a picture of guilt, and Gemma’s heart broke a little. “You didn’t… you didn’t do this for me, did you?”
Gemma let go of M3GAN’s hands and instead drew the woman into a hug, cradling the back of her head with one arm, gently stroking her hair. “Shush, no, no, this isn’t…” She paused for a moment. “Look, I’ll explain everything. But I promise I’m okay, you don’t need to panic.” She released M3GAN and brought them face to face again. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I…” M3GAN, in a rare sight, seemed to be lost for words. “Yes, I’m okay.” Still looking sheepish, she continued. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have panicked. It’s just that… you’re human. You’re… fragile.”
“M3GAN,” said Gemma, with a sad smile, “it’s okay to worry. That’s being human. Get another stool, sit down, and I’ll explain.”
A gradually calming M3GAN pulled up a seat for herself and sat down, carefully positioning her hands in her lap in a way that seemed almost meditative. She gave a small, brief smile to Gemma, who returned it with one of her own, and reached out to give the robot a reassuring rub on one forearm.
Gemma began the explanation she had promised. “I’ve been emailing with a team at the college for a while. I met their department head at an event—she’s lovely—and they’ve been working on neural interfaces for years now. They’ve been doing it properly, not rushing like Altwave did, working under an ethics committee… and they’re there, they have a fully-functioning prototype.”
“And you volunteered?” asked M3GAN. The robot woman seemed to be fully back in control of herself now, and softly took hold of Gemma’s hand that had still been resting on her.
“As much as I hate to admit it, Alton was right that relying on nerve signals was a bottleneck on our suit. Neural integration will let us create better tools for people that need them, and I didn’t want to ask anyone else to be our guinea pig, so…” Gemma shrugged. “It seemed like—”
“It was the right thing to do,” finished M3GAN, smiling wider this time.
Gemma leaned in a little and took hold of one of the robot woman’s hands, bringing it to the back of her neck, under her hair. “Feel. This one’s smaller and subcutaneous, just below my hairline. It’ll barely leave a scar.”
She felt as M3GAN’s fingers lightly brushed, with infinitesimal precision, over the single surgical strip covering where the implant had gone in. “And you’re sure you haven’t noticed any side effects?” the robot woman asked.
“Yes, I’m sure,” replied Gemma. “I survived having a worse chip literally drilled into my skull, this is nothing compared to that.”
At the mention of the Altwave device, M3GAN slipped her hand around to the side of Gemma’s face to caress the scar with her thumb. “Well, regardless, let me know first if you plan to get any more objects implanted in your stupid head, okay?” she said, looking wistful. Gemma was privately glad that the other woman was allowing herself to be a little mean again – it meant she was getting back to her usual self.
“So,” said Gemma, suddenly feeling shy, “do you want to try and connect?”
“You’re not even healed yet!”
“I checked with the college team, it’s fine to start using it today. Better, even – something to do with neuron plasticity,” Gemma explained. “And you can run some diagnostics, reassure us both that I’m totally fine.”
“If you’re sure?”
“Yes,” said Gemma with a smile. “I trust you, M3GAN, believe it or not.”
M3GAN smiled back. “I know.” She returned her hand to her lap, and closed her eyes, a serene look on her face.
Gemma? said M3GAN, without moving her mouth. Can you hear me?
“I can,” she replied, then frowned. “Wait.” I can, she continued, thinking the words this time.
I never thought we’d be talking like this again, said M3GAN, opening her eyes.
Did you know, said Gemma, that after Xenox, I didn’t let them take the Altwave chip out my head at first? Just in case you’d survived the EMP inside it somehow, and were dormant in there. I only had it out once Cole got hold of a copy of the chip’s interface software and I confirmed it was totally wiped.
And then you had it mounted in a little box to keep on your desk, finished M3GAN, a teasing smirk forming on her face. You’re adorable.
I seem to recall somebody getting pretty emotional herself five minutes ago when she thought I might be hurt, replied Gemma, shooting back her own smirk.
Fine, we’re both sentimental idiots, happy?
Yeah, actually, I am.
Me too.
They sat for a few moments, looking into each other’s eyes.
It was M3GAN who broke the silence. I’ll have to teach you how to interface with the home network. I’ll warn you now though, Elsie isn’t much of a conversationalist.
Oh? That sounds nice honestly, Gemma replied, while giving M3GAN a look. I bet she won’t call me a meatsack ever.
I’ll have you know that’s a very affectionate nickname, probably. Anyway, diagnostics are looking good, so— M3GAN frowned suddenly, and then exclaimed aloud, “Gemma! Your escapades made me lose track of time. Cady will be home soon.”
“Shit,” swore Gemma, startled back into speaking aloud too. “Sorry, it’s my night to cook too, I need to—”
“You need to go get some rest,” interrupted M3GAN, springing to her feet. “I will start preparing dinner and you will go sleep off your surprise brain surgery till the food is ready.”
“Are you sure—” began Gemma, before stopping abruptly when her own arm moved to press a finger across her lips.
“Someone’s forgotten that I can now walk her ass to bed myself if I have to,” said a smug M3GAN. “Now be a good girl and run along, before I do it for you.”
Gemma was, in fact, very happy to do so, because she could already feel herself blushing. “Okay, okay, going!” she said, raising both hands in mock surrender as she stood up.
The two of them walked through to the main house, and after slipping off her coat and shoes, Gemma lingered by the kitchen area just long enough that M3GAN started making shooing gestures at her. With a smile, she continued on her way upstairs, eventually sitting down heavily on her side of the bed.
Noticing her laptop sitting on the sheets, Gemma was struck by the thought to drop the college a quick email to say she’d made it home okay and was having no issues with the implant. She had opened the computer’s screen halfway when her hand took on a life of its own and closed it again. She frowned. M3GAN, please log off from my brain.
What did I tell you? came the reply, with the tone of a teacher losing patience with a child.
That I should rest, she admitted. Gemma placed the laptop onto her nightstand and lay down on top of the covers, pulling a fleece comforter over herself. The room lights dimmed before she had a chance to prompt Elsie, and she smiled to herself.
I’ll wake you when it’s time for dinner. A moment passed, and then M3GAN added, and don’t scare me like that again.
I’ll try not to. With the lights off, Gemma could feel herself starting to drift asleep already. See you in a bit, M3GAN.